Brainstorm? Organic Material Sources

[SteveinMN]

Kelli, my next-door neighbor is the gardener around here and he has forsworn Ramsey County compost as being too weedy. Granted, sample size = 1, but he's dealt with it for a few years. We've let him use our compost for a few years, but I think we're going to be using it this year as a soil builder.

[Rosemary]

Yep, Ramsey County compost does have weed seeds in it. But if you can let the weeds germinate before you seed the garden - cover it with some clear plastic to warm it and encourage the germination in early spring - then you can wipe out those weeds and it will be good to go.

I suggest avoiding straw. I bought straw for the first time last year for my potato experiment and it definitely had a lot of mold spores in it. Won't do that again.

[SteveinMN]

Thanks for the tips, Rosemary!

[puglogic]

Kelli, do you have a Freecycle chapter where you are? I put out a call for old manure, aged manure, etc. one year and had multiple responses. I made a pile in March, let it cook until late April, then mixed in a little chopped straw to get the right texture. So it might not be too late if you can find a farm or stable that has some OLD manure somewhere. Strawbales can often be found at construction sites or pounded into the ground where they once needed to control runoff. If you have a microbrewery nearby, brewery waste is terrific stuff when mixed in with browns like leaves.

[fidgiegirl]

Kelli, do you have a Freecycle chapter where you are? I put out a call for old manure, aged manure, etc. one year and had multiple responses. I made a pile in March, let it cook until late April, then mixed in a little chopped straw to get the right texture. So it might not be too late if you can find a farm or stable that has some OLD manure somewhere. Strawbales can often be found at construction sites or pounded into the ground where they once needed to control runoff. If you have a microbrewery nearby, brewery waste is terrific stuff when mixed in with browns like leaves.

My dad usually has lots of aged stuff, but we used it all up on our bed last fall. I'll think about giving Freecycle a try, or CL free section.

Thanks for the reminders about the brewing material. Our community garden was picking up some waste from somewhere, but the woman doing it got overwhelmed with all the pickups and some dropped by the wayside. Maybe I should ask her if I could contribute by picking that up, too. I'll be picking up coffee grounds once a week from three coffee shops already, so should probably see how that goes first with my schedule and general feeling of overwhelmedness.

There is also a salsa cannery on the main drag very near to the garden. Do you suppose they would have waste that would be good? Or would it more likely be a huge mess?

The good thing about this effort is that we really can't have too much. If we end up with surplus, it can just go on the community pile, which the compost coordinator is managing as a hot pile. It's been composting all winter, unlike our backyard bin which is a frozen chunk o' stuff. Super interesting stuff.

[Tussiemussies]

I wouldn't use newspaper because of the ink factor, even though that layer is not close to the top....

[Birdie]

The newspapers where I live use soy ink which is safe to use in a compost pile. Not the shiny ads in the paper, but the newsprint is safe.

[Gardenarian]

What are you going to be planting?

[fidgiegirl]

Tomatoes, beans, zucchini, maybe herbs, perhaps some hardy greens, I'm sure there's more. . .

[puglogic]

Tomatoes, beans, zucchini, maybe herbs, perhaps some hardy greens, I'm sure there's more. . .

You know one thing I've done in a pinch, Kelli, when I had compost that needed more time to "cook" in my sheet mulch, was to create a little oasis of regular soil right around every plant I plant. By the time its roots extend out far enough to reach the hotter stuff, it has often cooled down just fine. If you can get away with that with some of your plants....